Latest: Chemical giants BASF, Sabic and Linde have begun construction of the world’s first large-scale electric-heated steam cracker demonstration plant, which could drastically reduce emissions.

By using renewable energy to generate electricity instead of natural gas, the new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by 90 percent compared to technologies commonly used today.

The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s integrated plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It will test two different heating concepts, processing around 4 tonnes of hydrocarbons per hour and consuming 6 MW of renewable electricity/electricity. The start-up time of the demonstration plant is
2023.

New technology

With the new technology, BASF, Sabic and Linde aim to develop fully commercial production plants that can significantly reduce CO2 emissions compared to today’s technology.

The investment costs for the pilot will be borne by BASF and Sabic, and the demonstration plant will be operated by BASF. Linde is the engineering, procurement and construction partner for the project and will commercialize the developed technology in the future.

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has allocated 14.8 million euros ($14.63 million) to the project under its “Decarbonization of Industry” funding program to help meet the challenges posed by current framework conditions and energy costs.

Electrification of Steam Crackers

Martin, Chairman of the Executive Board of BASF Europe
Dr. Brudermüller said: “BASF has the entrepreneurial drive to achieve the energy transition and the electrification of the steam cracker is very important for us. We are therefore delighted that BASF has received project funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, which demonstrates our approach There is also support from policymakers.”

Sabic Vice Chairman and CEO Yousef
Al-Benyan said: “Our vision is to transform our business and help solve pressing global challenges through efficient carbon management. This project has enormous implications for all petrochemical industries around the world as we drive low carbon emissions. Potential. As we jointly announce this milestone of commencement of construction, we hope that our tripartite collaboration will inspire more collaborations, ultimately enabling the world to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions through a circular carbon economy.”

Benefits of partnership

Jürgen, Executive Vice President of Linde AG and CEO of Linde
Nowicki said: “This project demonstrates how global companies can successfully collaborate by combining their expertise in technology development, EPC execution and operations. Timely delivery of the demonstration plant will be the first step in the path to delivering sustainable solutions to the petrochemical industry. Important milestone. We are proud to be a participant in this ground-breaking project.”